Enceladus: Ringside Water World
Explanation:
Saturn's icy moon Enceladus poses above the gas giant's
icy rings in this Cassini spacecraft image.
The dramatic scene
was captured on July 29,
while Cassini cruised just below the ring plane,
its cameras looking back in a nearly sunward direction
about 1 million kilometers from the moon's
bright crescent.
At 500 kilometers in diameter,
Enceladus is
a surprisingly active moon though,
its remarkable south polar geysers are visible venting
beyond a dark southern limb.
In fact,
data collected during Cassini's
flybys
and years of images have recently revealed the presence of a
global
ocean of liquid water beneath this moon's icy crust.
Demonstrating the
tantalizing
liquid layer's global extent, the careful
analysis indicates
surface and core are
not rigidly connected, with Enceladus rocking slightly back
and forth in its orbit.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
